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Iraq’s Tentative Gas Gains Insufficient To Stem Oil Burn Growth

Iraq depends on burning liquid fuels in its power stations due to gas shortages. Sky high flaring levels are being curtailed, but progress is slow and with generation capacity set to come on-stream by 2020 oil burn levels are set to remain high.

Iraqi domestic oil burning is set to hit a new record in 2016 despite its recent gains in sales gas production. Efforts to reduce the flaring of associated gas have led to record amounts of sales gas being captured and the trend is upwards. But growth is slow and the level remains well short of that required by Iraq’s power sector.

With new gas-fired power generation capacity scheduled to come online by 2020, Iraq is set to rely on oil burn and gas imports for the foreseeable future.

BASRA GAS BOOST

The majority of Iraq’s gas reserves are in associated fields and so production has grown as oil production has been ramped up in recent years. Oil production has risen from 3.30mn b/d in 2014 to average 4.35mn b/d in January-September this year. Gross gas output has averaged 2.7bn cfd in the first eight months of 2016, up 628mn cfd from the same period last year. (CONTINUED - 662 WORDS)